


Ego

by ReganingRainyRain



Series: yet I fight on [1]
Category: Super Mario & Related Fandoms, Super Mario Bros. (Video Games)
Genre: (mentioned) - Freeform, Dreams and Nightmares, Gen, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kidnapping, Narcissism, Racism, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Rescue, Rescue Missions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:14:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25691149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReganingRainyRain/pseuds/ReganingRainyRain
Summary: Mario and Luigi, products of a dysfunctional family, meet again. In the background, someone plots a kidnapping they don’t know is wrong.
Relationships: Luigi & Mario (Nintendo), No Romantic Relationship(s)
Series: yet I fight on [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1863433
Comments: 10
Kudos: 32





	1. Meet Again

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is a placeholder for now. I wasn’t planning to upload this story now, but hey, things happen.

It was a perfect day. 

The sun was shining brightly, the wind gently combing through Luigi's messy hair as he waited for his brother to arrive. He shifted slightly, and the wooden bench creaked; it hadn't been cleaned or repaired in years. He hadn’t seen his brother in years, either.

Luigi gazed out onto the park. When he and his brother had lived here as children, it had been a place of beauty, his escape from the stresses of living as the scapegoat. Now it had fallen into disrepair. Graffiti and litter were scattered across the park, courtesy of more humans moving from New Donk City for a more peaceful life and proceeding to wreck the 'peaceful' part immediately.

"Luigi!"

Luigi started, then turned around. Mario, his older twin brother and quite possibly the most disruptive person to have ever lived in the Mushroom Kingdom, was in the process of jumping off the branch of a tree towards him.

"Mario, watch out!” He needn’t have worried; Mario stuck the landing perfectly. His natural but slightly unnerving jumping ability had made him the sports star of their younger years - likely of their adult years too.

“Relax, Weegie,” Mario said, rolling his eyes. “Since when have I not been pulling those kind of stunts?”

Luigi stood up from the bench. "This time’s different. You literally broke your arm a couple months ago. Are you alright? I saw clips of you fighting the gorilla online, it was admirable but scary to watch."

Mario huffed. "I got checked out by a doctor, few bruises and bumps, my arm was fractured, not broken, and it’s already healed up anyway.”

Luigi smiled, relieved at the good news. It had been almost two months since Donkey Kong's attack on New Donk City in the Metro Kingdom. Fortunately, Mario had been residing there at the time and, in defeating the giant barrel-throwing gorilla, had simultaneously rescued the mayor, rescued the city, and achieved his biggest goal; to become an adventurer and rescue people from peril.

"I'm glad you're alright, but are you sure you're not pushing yourself?" Luigi asked, his warm tone turning concerned. He really didn't want to bother his brother if he was too injured.

"Seriously, Luigi, stop acting like you're my mum," Mario said, folding his arms. "I am fine, and I can tell you're thinking about being a bother-"

"Neither of us knows what a mother should act like." Luigi's face was solemn as he cut in.

Mario blinked at Luigi's serious response. "True, but... normally they act concerned and baby everyone! So stop it!"

"Oh, I'm babying you am I?" Luigi teased, his serious demeanour falling away so quickly that Mario appeared to be slightly weirded out by it. "That's it, move back to Toad City right now. You're not safe all alone in New Donk, you're only 22!"

Mario unfolded his arms and slapped him. "Stop it!"

Luigi sighed while rubbing his cheek. "I'll let that one slide, but only because you're a hero now. Speaking of heroism-"

"Please don't tell me something's happened over here without me," Mario interrupted. "I went to New Donk because there’s always a party or a riot over there, if I missed something here-"

"Not yet," Luigi reassured his older twin, "but there might be some action soon. You remember Koopa Kingdom?"

"Yeah, the guy ruling, King Bowser Lierren, right? He seemed kinda weird. What about it?"

"He's, uh, he seems to have his eye on the princess," Luigi explained. "Reports from the border between us are that their army's mobilising. Things are tricky politically."

"Of course you'd care about the political side," Mario scoffed. "Disgusting Grambi-damned turtle-"

"Stop interrupting me, please." Luigi said, his tone back to serious. "All I'm saying is, if you're looking for action, here might be the place to go next. We might need you here. And he's a Koopa, not a turtle."

Mario paused for a second. "I bet you're jealous," he smirked. "I mean, who wouldn't be? They've got my face everywhere now, did you hear they're calling me Jumpman? And Pauline - the mayor - loves me, too!"

"I'm not jealous. Without me, you wouldn't even be alive right now."

Mario's smirk faltered. The two of them fell silent for a minute, looking at the algae-covered pond, the occasional Toad child running across the green.

"So, uh... which time were you talking about when you said I wouldn’t be alive without you...?"

Luigi snorted. "All of them."

The brothers laughed at their little inside joke before stopping, and staring for a while again.

Mario was the first to break the silence. "So... why’d you call me back here, Luigi?"

Luigi stayed silent for a few more moments, thinking.

"The situation with Donkey Kong."

"What about it?" Mario asked defensively.

"It made me realise something," Luigi replied, running his fingers through his now-windswept hair. "How short life is. So I wanted to spend some more time with you now, in case something changes."

Mario blinked, then burst out into laughter. "Bro, you were always too serious," he said, swatting his younger twin's arm. "Everything'll be fine. But, I kinda lost my job in New Donk, so I might move back here. I guess that’s some change for you."

"Are you ser-" Luigi stopped himself, and sighed. "Right. What happened?"

"Boss was a racist butthole. Apparently mixed people are all criminals, did you know? Grambi, I’m hardly even that brown and they’re all ganging up on me ‘cause I’m not from there."

"Can't blame you for that," Luigi conceded. "Is that even legal?"

"Not like I had the money to sue." Mario slapped his forehead in annoyance.

"My place is awful, but it'll do, and I have plenty of savings. You can sleep over there if you want while you find a place." Luigi offered.

Mario shook his head. "Thanks for offering, bro, but I have a bit of time left before I was planning to move. I'm sure I can find something."

Luigi sighed. He'd tried. He really hadn't thought that what Mario had tried to do would go anywhere. Adventuring wasn't a real career, after all, but it seemed like being in the right place at the right time was Mario's thing. Just like when they were born. He had the luck to come out first.

"Luigi!"

"Huh?" His shoulder was stinging. "Did you hit me again? That’s the third time now."

"You were really zoned out," Mario said, sounding concerned. "I got a little worried. Do you get absence seizures?"

Luigi blinked. "I didn't even know you knew what those were," he admitted. "And no, I don't. Probably. I was just thinking."

"I'm not stupid, Luigi," Mario said, sounding hurt. Then he grinned. "But you're always the one who's thinking, bro."

"Lucky for us, I'm not a carbon copy of you," Luigi said. "Mario, promise me you won't let this whole heroism thing get to your head, okay?"

"I'm starting to think you do actually think I'm stupid," Mario scoffed, clearly at least slightly offended. "Of course I won't. Don't worry about me, bro. I know you thought I wasn't gonna make it, but look at me now! I saved a whole city, and its mayor!"

Luigi opened his mouth, then took in the way Mario's eyes and face and whole body shined with pride. He'd come so far. The expectations for him to pursue a traditional career had turned to dust. Their parents had made the mistake of trying to squash Mario's energy. He wouldn't do the same. Not now that they were finally free.

"I'm happy for you, Mario," Luigi said, and gave his older twin a hug. "I was skeptical, I'll admit, but I still support you. Because you're not a jerk. Anymore."

"Hey!" Mario gasped. "I... okay I was a jerk when we were kids, but still!"

Luigi laughed. "Come on, I was only teasing. Want to go bowling? There's an alley down the road, I saved up for us to hang out there."

"Really? You'd do that for me, bro?"

"Of course, I'm not the one who got laid off."

"LUIGI!"

\------

Luigi won, two games to one. He was always better at bowling.

Mario, irritated, had suggested they go to the local bar. Luigi had thought about money for a second, then conceded; a few drinks wouldn't wipe out his life savings, and Mario could buy his own drinks if he wanted them. They just had to stay rational.

Unfortunately, that was not something Mario was good at. He drank far too much far too quickly, ended up in a fight over some unidentifiable topic, and had to be dragged out of the bar by a slightly less drunk Luigi before security got to him.

They ended up at Luigi's flat. The neighbour, as usual, came outside to complain about the noise, to which Luigi responded that he should get checked for auditory hallucinations, as neither of them had been saying anything. Mario was silently crying by this point, so Luigi sat him down on the bed, as he had no chairs, and shut the door.

"Mario?" Luigi asked, sitting down next to him. "Why are you crying?"

"Your place looks like crap," Mario hiccuped, wiping his eyes. "It's so dirty, bro. It looks like our family house. But smaller, y’know?"

Oh. That was why Mario was crying - reminiscence. Though his room was disgusting. The dirt could never be removed from the floor and the walls no matter how hard Luigi scrubbed. It was barely even large enough to fit all his things in, but it did the job.

"Mario, that house is gone, remember? We're not there. This is my tiny, awful flat, not their huge, awful house." Mario latched onto Luigi after hearing this, still crying. Though his shirt getting wet was hardly a large price to pay for Mario's comfort.

"Our parents always wanted me to have a real job, like plumbing or something," Mario sobbed, slurring his words. "I don' wanna do that. You didn' get that. They didn' care what you did."

"They're dead," Luigi said. "They're not here. You can do whatever you want. Go save princesses if you want. They were wrong about us."

Mario hugged his brother, tears subsiding and voice starting to lose volume. "You're a good bro... they were wrong... y'know that... love you."

Luigi checked on Mario and realised he'd fallen asleep. Slowly, he moved his brother, who was muttering incoherently in Italiano, under the covers and tucked them over him. Unlike most other things in the room, they were white and smelled of flowers.

He tugged a spare blanket off a table and threw it on the floor, laying down so as not to disturb his sleeping brother. He had never thought...

All throughout his childhood, he had wanted to be Mario. Mario the favoured brother, Mario the perfect child, Mario the first twin. He remembered the cult-like religion their parents had been in, remembered the saying that having twins of the same gender was a bad omen. They said that the twin born last would grow to be a terrible person, create destruction- the words varied, but the message was always the same. The second twin is evil. So he, the twin born last, had been neglected and harassed while all the attention was given to Mario. A self-fulfilling prophecy.

But at least he had been free, in a way. No one expected anything of a supposedly evil person, but a supposedly angelic person like Mario... the expectations had clearly taken more out of him than Luigi noticed. The pressure to be a certain way. He'd never had that. He'd wanted to be Mario, but he'd never considered that Mario also might have wanted to be him.

That night, sleeping in the tiny room so reminiscent of their childhood home, both twins’ nightmares returned for the first time in years.


	2. Take a Walk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mario and Luigi take a walk. There are... some interruptions.

Luigi opened his eyes the next day to what would have been a blinding dawn, except his only window was tiny. His head was aching from hangover, and on top of that he was covered in sweat. Great. Probably from nightmares which he could already barely remember.

Reaching for his phone, he discovered that it was just coming up to 7am, which Luigi figured was a reasonable time to wake up for him, though not for Mario, who was still deeply sleeping. Luigi unlocked his phone and began to look through the morning's news reports for anything particularly interesting. 

When Mario woke up an hour later, Luigi had only been able to find news on one topic: Bowser. Surprisingly, there were even more articles than there had been the day before, when Luigi had had a quick look through them before setting off to meet his brother.

Mario, too, had woken up covered in sweat and vaguely terrified, and Luigi spent ten minutes reassuring him that no, their parents had not risen from the grave and come for revenge, and that it was just a very vivid and very bad dream. His headache was, as far as Luigi could tell, far worse than his own, so he gave his brother a mild painkiller and began to get ready for the day.

He told his brother about the news while they rubbed the sleep from their eyes and got dressed. Normally Mario wouldn't have shown any interest, but today he was hanging off Luigi's every word as he explained the main points of every news article he'd read about King Bowser Lierren. Which didn't take too long, as they all said mostly the same things.

"Army mobilising... terrified citizens... princess in danger... that's about all they say, really," Luigi said as he wrapped up the explanation while tugging on a pair of socks. "And their king seems to have absolutely no idea how to talk to people outside of prepared speeches, which can't help. Though his citizens seem pretty happy with him."

Mario wanted to go outside and see for himself what was happening, and while Luigi disagreed, he did think that there was a lot of scaremongering in these stories. Besides, Mario had argued, he knew how to defend them and he could keep them safe. Which was true, so outside they went.

Luigi only remembered that he was supposed to be working that day when he received a text telling him that the tea shop he worked at was closed for the day, somewhat due to fear of an attack, mostly because everyone would be staying at home and business would be awful. He told this to Mario, who rolled his eyes and made a joking quip about him not usually being this forgetful.

"Shut up," Luigi had replied, and then, "Let's go find somewhere to eat."

Almost nowhere was open - as this was Toad City, and spot-capped Toads, the main inhabitants, were easily frightened - but they found a place to order a breakfast of Eggs Benedict that left Luigi wincing at the price, which resulted in Mario calling him a cheapskate.

"These eggs are pretty good," Mario said, shoving more into his mouth. "I think I wanna go for a walk after this, I'm feeling way better."

"Are you sure?" Luigi asked him. "You were just complaining about having an awful headache thirty minutes ago."

"Yeah, I'm good," Mario said. "Besides, I haven't been here in... what, four months? Wanna have a look around, see the sights, maybe I'll get all nostalgic."

"Four months?" Luigi said, surprised. "We haven't seen each other in over four years!"

"Yeah, because I just took the money you gave me for uni and vanished like an idiot even though we were at the same one," Mario huffed. "I was still here until four months ago, finishing up!"

"Wow. Cold of you, bro." Luigi's words held no real malice; he could understand his brother wanting to dissociate himself from anything that reminded him of his former life. A few seconds later they were laughing, Mario choking on his eggs in the process.

The two of them finished their breakfast and then left the diner, the Toad woman at the desk wishing them safety before they left. They'd been the only ones inside.

Ultimately, Luigi ended up agreeing with Mario's walking idea, since without any work there really wasn't much else to do. Most people were either outside panicking and proclaiming that 'the end is nigh' or something along those lines, or indoors hiding, looking at the news for any further updates.

"It's almost like Bowser announced that he's going to bomb the city," Luigi said as they walked. "Has he even said anything himself?"

"Well you didn't mention a statement in any of the news articles, and you must've read dozens of the things, so I guess not," Mario replied. "Don't Toads have higher levels of anxiety than humans, though?"

"Spot-capped Toads do," Luigi said. "Brown Toads... not so sure, since there are literally none left here. Probably something to do with the whole predator and prey thing, since they're shorter and physically weaker than us."

"Huh. Why are there no Brown Toads left here, by the way?" Mario asked. "There were loads around when we were kids, you remember them, right?"

"Of course I do," Luigi snapped. "I would have thought you knew by now that it was ethnic cleansing."

"What- oh," Mario mumbled, clearly shocked by this revelation.

When the brothers were children, there had indeed been plenty of the Brown Toads existing in the Mushroom Kingdom - probably almost as many as the spot-capped ones. However, they'd slowly disappeared over the years, until one day there were dozens of burning buildings, and not a Brown Toad to be found for miles. Rumour had it that they had all fled to the Darklands in Koopa Kingdom, where the evil King Bowser had taken them in as servants. At least to the more judgemental citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom. Luigi thought that they'd probably just asked for a place to stay, and Bowser had let them become citizens.

They walked in silence for a few more minutes before Mario decided to change the topic. "That park we met up in was a new one."

"Not exactly, but for you it probably was," Luigi replied. He'd been to many places trying to escape the stress. There was a park nearer to where their house had been and which Mario had been to before as a child. "We can go to the other one, but it's a bit of a walk."

"How'd you know- forget it, you always know," Mario laughed. "Yeah, I did want to check it out. The walking's what we got outside for, anyway."

The brothers made their way across the city, deftly turning to avoid any places they didn't want to go, like the street where their parents' house was, or the one where the care home had been. They walked mostly in silence, content with each other's presence. Nothing much had changed anyway, since Mario hadn't been away for too long, so there wasn't much to talk about other than obviously forbidden topics.

At last they reached the other park. There was a lone swing set there, empty, so the brothers hopped on for nostalgia's sake.

"I bet I can swing higher than you, Weegie!" Mario yelled as he soared upwards.

"Don't even try, bro!"

No one was around to see them, so they didn't hold back, screaming at each other and swinging until their legs were tired from being folded up and they decided on a draw.

"They need to make those things higher off the ground," Mario wheezed as he attempted to walk only to find his legs had cramp. "And good Grambi, I eat too much pizza."

"Adult swings! We'll make a fortune," Luigi joked as they walked across the park to something that looked like it had once been a fountain.

"All you think about now is money," Mario sighed, then stopped by the structure. "Hey, this thing used to have water. What happened?"

"The council said that they didn't have enough money to keep it running. Meanwhile, Princess Peach has a huge fountain in her castle," Luigi scoffed, "and they can keep that running, but not this tiny thing."

"That's dumb," Mario agreed, but looking slightly reluctant to say anything else bad about the princess. "Shall we go? There's nothing else to do here."

There was nothing else to do anywhere, as they discovered that most places in general had been shut, not only diners and restaurants. So they were trudging back home, slightly disappointed, when some of the terrified residents spotted them.

"Hey!" A shout came from the other side of the road, and the brothers whirled around, prepared for a scuffle. "Look, it's Jumpman!"

Luigi sighed in relief; it was only new fans of Mario's. The twin in question was quickly swarmed by excited faces, and the human who had initiated the swarm started trying to talk to Mario.

"Hey, Jumpman, have you come to save us from the evil Koopa King?"

"I bet you're here to help the princess, are you here to help the princess?"

"Can I have your autograph? Pretty please?"

Luigi grinned and stepped back from the chaos. His brother lived for fame and would thrive in a situation like this. Sure enough, he quickly got everyone to calm down and stop shouting, before announcing that he'd only come back for a reunion with his twin brother.

The crowd muttered in disappointment, but Mario wasn't done. "I might have only come back to visit my baby bro, but I promise that if anything happens, I'll do my best to protect you all!"

Everyone began to cheer, and Mario smiled and took the praise as his due, waving at the group of Toads and humans. They waved back enthusiastically, and one shoved a Super Mushroom into Mario's hand as a gift. Luigi looked on just a few metres from his brother, enjoying the sight of him fulfilling his dream.

Mario continued grinning at the crowd, then blinked and looked confused. Someone had screamed across the road, a young Toadette, pointing her finger up at the sky before running inside one of the apartment buildings.

The crowd turned as one, and cheers were quickly drowned out by screams of horror. An airship was quickly descending upon them - an airship marked with the logo of the Koopa Kingdom. Mario stared up, equally as shocked, before turning back to the citizens and shouting at them to get to safety.

As they scattered, the airship turned in the direction of Peach's Castle, revealing two massive cannon along its side. They were easily large enough to tear their way through a building, or an entire crowd of people. Mario, too, began to run towards Luigi, pulling him away and into a small side street hidden from the view of the airship. Even the screams, now, were drowned out by the sound of the airship's whirring machinery.

"Luigi," he said, slightly hysterical, "Bro, I think I might have made a mistake coming back here."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I've decided to try out an upload schedule. Updates will come out no sooner than once per week, at least for now. Currently, it's the summer holidays, which means I have plenty of time to write, however that'll probably change very soon. Not looking forward to results day.
> 
> About the story: sorry if it seems a bit slow-paced, I'm not one to begin 'in medias res'. Things'll start up soon for Mario and Luigi, don't you worry. :)
> 
> (EDIT: Any instance of 'Bowser Koopa' in this story has now been changed to 'Bowser Lierren'. I mean, it'd be pretty weird to have a human with the last name 'Human'.)


	3. Pursuit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mario, with Luigi's help, tries to find a solution to this unexpected problem. The kidnapping plan is officially in action.

For about half a minute, Luigi was convinced that he was going to die. Even hiding behind a building, those cannon were easily strong enough to punch their way through and blast them. Or the pieces of the destroyed buildings might just crush them instead.

Everyone around them was staring up in terror, but the airship just continued to turn until it was facing in exactly the direction it would need to go to get to Peach's Castle. Ironically, that had them all staring right down the barrel of the cannon. But instead of firing, the mechanical sounds became louder and louder until the brothers had to clap their hands over their ears.

The whirring airship began to move away from them in the direction it had been facing. Luigi heard Mario mutter something about Peach's Castle, saw him bending his knees to spring, and quickly grabbed his arm before he could.

"What are you doing?" Mario hissed, desperately trying to tug his arm away.

"I know what you're doing," Luigi responded, pulling him away from the airship which was getting further away with every second. "But you're not doing it this time. You're not just going to recklessly jump in there to try and save her."

"I have to, you don't understand! You can't stop me!"

"I know," Luigi said, trying to calm his brother down. "But you can't just run in there against an airship like that, and it definitely has Koopa soldiers in there as well. You need a plan. And you have time to think of one."

"But what if they're gonna hurt her?"

"Not likely. If they were, they wouldn't be going towards the castle; they'd be bombing it from afar."

Mario slowed down his breathing for a few seconds. "Yeah. You- you're right. I need to think about this."

"There we go," Luigi said, grabbing his brother's hand and squeezing it. "So, what're you thinking?"

Mario remained silent, but held tightly to his brother's hand. After about fifteen seconds of silence, he spoke; "I'm gonna... gonna follow the airship. Carefully, and at a distance, so the people on board can't see me."

"Nice start," Luigi encouraged. "What next?"

Another few seconds passed in silence, before Mario seemed to have another idea. "I'll wait for the airship to land and the people to get off, so they can't shoot the cannonballs at me. Then I'll follow the people and find out what they're doing and stop it."

"What if they don't get off the airship?"

Mario didn't have to think much this time. "I'll keep following it and find out what it's doing, then try to think of another way to stop it."

"Well, it's better than nothing," Luigi said. 

Mario let go of his brother's hand, blinked, then smiled. "It's like holding your hand gave me your thinking powers."

"So my thinking powers gave you a plan," Luigi replied. "Great. Now go save the damn princess."

Mario didn't need to be told twice. As Luigi let go of him, he bent his knees again, sprung onto the rooftop of one of the buildings and began to skilfully jump from rooftop to rooftop, following the airship until Luigi could see him no more.

\---

Mario's heart was beating out of his chest as he leaped. Every jump felt like it would send him tumbling to the ground with a broken leg, but none of them did, and he continued following the airship on foot.

Although he'd initially decided to keep his distance from the airship, he was surprised to find that he could catch up to it easily. Still keeping a safe distance, he looked over to the airship and saw a few Koopas standing on top of it, looking over the somewhat dilapidated city.

Mario jumped again, but one of the Koopas began turning in his direction mid-leap, and he second-guessed himself, fell too short, and was just able to grab the edge of the building before he fell the substantial distance to the ground.

He hung there, able but not willing to pull himself up, certain that the airship would turn around and blast him to pieces. It did not. Either that Koopa hadn't seen him, had thought he was an inanimate object they'd blown over, or decided he was just a stupid kid on a rooftop instead of a fledgling hero actively attempting to stop whatever horrible plan they had.

After about a minute, he pulled himself up. Shaken but not deterred, he began following the airship again, but at a safer distance this time.

It became apparent - not that it hadn't been before - that the airship's destination was Peach's Castle when said castle appeared more clearly in the distance, in the exact direction that it was travelling. What was its motive, Mario wondered. For Luigi had been right; it could have easily blasted the castle from here. Was it attempting to kidnap her for ransom? They didn't exactly have much to pay.

The quality of the buildings noticeably improved the closer they got to the castle. Luigi had cynically referred to this change in design as 'Peach-centric architecture' when they had been about twelve years old, which had gotten him sent to bed early with no dinner for 'insulting royalty'. Not that he was wrong. Mario had often wondered about it himself.

The airship began to slow down as it reached the castle, to Mario's delight. Now he could actually follow and stop them! He jumped carefully to the floor, and peeked from behind a small house as the airship descended to the floor and stopped there. A ramp appeared at the front, and two Koopas exited the airship first before it shook slightly, and a much larger Koopa with spikes on his shell exited the ship followed by what appeared to be the rest of the crew.

Mario darted out from behind the safety of the house, ran closer and hid behind the wall while poking his head over to see the Koopas' actions more closely. He swallowed as he recognised the description of the larger Koopa. It was King Bowser.

The first two Koopas walked towards the Toad guards who stood in front of the castle guards, their pikes pointed towards the airship. Bowser appeared to be rubbing his hands together in... possible glee or possible stress, as the Toads' pikes were stolen from them, and the Koopas herded them over to one side, allowing Bowser and his crew access to the castle.

Bowser stopped, and said something that Mario couldn't hear, although he scrunched up his face and started tapping his hands against his legs - was he upset with something they'd done? Another Koopa replied to him, and he sighed before motioning half of the remaining crew to come with him and the other half to stay with the airship.

Mario's brain itched to do something reckless, like run up to the Koopas and stomp them, but he forced himself to channel Luigi instead. Even though half the force had gone, there were too many to just run up to them and attack them, and two of them had pikes anyway. He'd be overpowered and he had little doubt that they'd kill him if he tried to stop them.

He eyed the airship again, and noticed that it had a small back window - and that said window was both open and unguarded. An idea began to form in his mind and he looked around the area for semi-large stones. As it happened, there was one right next to him, and he grabbed it before running over to the window, hoping that no one spotted him. 

The stone went first. Fortunately, Mario was able to angle his body such that when he placed it on the floor of the airship, it made no noticeable noise. The gap was tight, but he managed to wiggle his way through and also drop silently to the floor of the airship.

It wasn't particularly big, and no one appeared to be on it, so he picked up the stone and began to look around for some kind of control panel. He found something that looked important and had lots of buttons and a wheel, so he promptly lifted the stone and smashed it into the gadget.

"What was that?" he heard someone shout from the front of the airship, and then he heard the sound of someone boarding. So with speed his brother would have been proud of, he grabbed the stone, rushed back to the window, threw it outside as far as it would go, jumped through and made a beeline for the building he'd previously been hiding behind.

He couldn't hear the Koopas talking, but they'd clearly found the damage; whether they decided it was accidental or deliberate, Mario had no idea. They did not attempt pursuit, fortunately, and he let out a sigh of relief before the door opened again.

Bowser was talking again, apparently quite cheerful. What he was saying was inaudible, but Mario could clearly hear Peach's cries as she struggled to escape the grip of this monster. He could feel his blood boiling; Peach was a pretty cruddy monarch, but she didn't deserve to be kidnapped!

The group went back inside the airship, the Koopas making an 'I'm watching you' motion towards the Toad guards before the doors closed. The two guards stayed up against the wall, weaponless and clearly frightened of those cannons, until the airship lifted off the ground, turned, and started making its way towards the border between the Mushroom and Koopa Kingdoms, at which point they ran for their homes.

Mario resumed following at a distance for a while. The airship appeared to be going at a slower pace than before, and he could see Koopas rushing around on top - clearly trying to fix the problem. The airship was approaching the border into the Grassland portion of the Koopa Kingdom, but just before it crossed over...

BANG!

One side of the airship caught on fire, and Mario was terrified that he'd accidentally harmed the princess, before he saw her being brought up to the airship's top deck. She looked terrified, and Mario felt a pang in his heart. Some of it was caused by him, after all.

The airship stayed in the air, but it was slowly starting to descend by itself. It had been about to pass a stone castle in the distance, but abruptly turned and began to lopsidedly fly towards that instead. It was quickly approaching the ground now, visible even from where Mario had had to stop and watch from a rather far distance due to all the patrols and enemies blocking his way forward.

Just before it hit the ground, he saw a group of people jump from the airship and run into the castle, slamming the door before the loudest crash he'd ever heard shook his vision. When he looked again, the airship was down and ablaze - but the princess appeared to be safe. At least as safe as she could be inside that castle.

There weren't really many options now, regarding her rescue, so he called on his inner Luigi once more to help him lay down the facts. The princess was in the castle. There was no easy way to get to the castle. It was either attempt to make his way across that huge field with tons of enemies, or go home. 

But he was here to save the princess. He couldn't go home. So it looked like it was time to set his inner Luigi aside; time for Reckless Mario to make an appearance once again.

"Here-a we go!" he cried as he leapt into the field, aiming directly for a very surprised-looking Koopa's head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It kicks off - and I'm on time again! Expect the next update no sooner than the 24th of August. Upload schedule will likely get wonky in a few weeks due to school. Feel free to comment, I know it can be difficult but anything that isn't straight up hate is okay in my books!
> 
> (Note: Forgot to mention this last chapter. The reason I call Brown Toads what I call them is because the name the game uses from them is almost exactly the same as an ethnic slur against (some?) Italians, and since I'm not Italian, it's not ok for me to use it.)
> 
> Edit 23/08/2020: First comment left some advice so I edited a line of the story for future readers. Nothing has really changed so no need to go back and read again. Thanks, Jemstone.


	4. Into the Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mario leaps (quite literally) into the fray. A mini-chronicle of his journey to rescue the Princess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my wonderful beta reader, Jemstone15!

He was new to this type of warfare, but hopping and stomping his way across the field felt like something Mario had been born to do. He just instinctively knew what to do, where to jump, and what was helpful. It was bizarre, and at the same time completely normal.

The enemies came in several waves; Mario felt it more appropriate to call them 'stages'. Grambi himself seemed to be watching over him, because Mario was able to find at least one useful item in every stage. Blocks and pitfalls were positioned by design to block Mario's way, but if he jumped in the right pattern and punched the right blocks with his fist, coins would pop out of them, and sometimes even strange plants. The first time he'd taken a tentative bite of one, he'd immediately grown in size and strength. The second, he'd found himself able to produce and throw balls of flame.

Mario had always had a natural affinity for fire, so this 'power-up' as he dubbed it, was no different to the stages themselves. He just knew when to throw them, and barely stopped to think about anyone he happened to hit. The castle was growing closer and closer with each stage, and with each stage the difficulty increased. He was hit a few times, but fortunately the power-ups protected him with the last of their strength, causing him to lose their power whenever he was hit.

The enemies he'd seen were mostly part of the Koopa family. Koopa Troopas, Paratroopas, even Lakitus throwing Spinies from their clouds. Once in a while, he'd spot one of the brown Toads defending the field. So the rumours had been true; they'd sought refuge in the vast Koopa Kingdom, and were now helping to defend it. He tried not to hurt them at first, but it slipped his mind as time went on. 

After a few long stages, he reached the doors of the castle. They were three times his height, and the shadow that they cast over him made him feel so small that he wanted to curl up into a ball. Nevertheless, he took a deep breath and pulled them open, surprised they weren't locked. He was hit with a hot blast of air as he stepped in, and choked hard as he registered the egg-like smell of sulphur; it was a foul stench for a princess to have to encounter. Fortunately, she wouldn't be here too much longer if he had anything to say about it.

He began to jump through the stage as with all the others, his footsteps echoing on the stone, but screeched to a halt, dropping to the floor as he saw a blast of flame zooming towards him, far larger than his own tiny fireballs. As it passed over him, he could feel the scorching heat so closely that he thought his moustache had been set alight. He got up and continued leaping over the lava pits, the hot liquid like stabbing needles under his feet.

When he finally reached the last room of the castle - a bridge over some more of that awful-smelling lava that seemed to go on forever - he was met with Bowser, snarling, breathing fire and throwing hammers. Mario met the flame breath with his own fireballs, and dove into a perfect forward roll as Bowser jumped high to aim a hammer. He was up and running almost immediately, making a beeline for the axe at the other side of the bridge. Bowser turned and blasted fire in an attempt to stop him, but Mario was too quick.

He'd had no idea what touching the axe would do, but he realised as it dropped to the ground that it was going to bring down the bridge. Bowser had no time to react before it fell, and he dropped into the lava. Mario watched in fascination as a brown Toad was ejected from what was apparently a fake Bowser suit, and thrown onto the far side of the bridge. They stood up, took one look at Mario and fled into the darkness.

Mario kept staring at the lava. That Bowser had been a fake. It made sense; he hadn't been acting like what he'd seen earlier. But what if it had been real? Would he have the strength to drop Bowser into the molten rock, possibly killing him?

To rescue the princess... he would do what needed to be done.

As the adrenaline left his system, Mario's eyes began to droop. He'd done hero stuff before, but he'd never needed to fight wave upon wave of enemies like this. He dragged himself out of the castle - spotting no Princess Peach, they must have moved her somewhere else - and into the next field.

"It's not safe to rest here," he heard himself thinking out loud. But he couldn't stop himself from dropping to the ground. "I'll just sit down for a few minutes..."

When he came to, hours had passed and the sun was beginning to set. He cursed himself for stopping this long - the princess needed him! - but he couldn't deny that he felt better, rested and more awake. He stood up and took a look at the next area, rubbing his eyes to remove the sleep. The grassy field was replaced by a desert about a mile ahead.

"Then it's probably just as well," Mario decided; now the troops would be sleepy if they were still there, and Mario wouldn't have the hot sun beating down to hinder him either. He set off to the next 'world' as he called it, and it was easier to traverse than the Grasslands had been. The enemies clearly hadn't expected him to turn up at night; half of them were asleep, and he just hopped right over them. There were no more stages in this area than there had been in the previous one, so he crossed the desert and was at the castle in under an hour.

The 'Bowser' at this castle was just as easy to defeat as the last, but this time a Koopa was ejected from the melting suit. Was Bowser really planning to make him face the same routine a million times over? It certainly wasn't too difficult to handle. Maybe he was trying to make it so tedious that Mario would give up? That certainly wasn't happening. Whatever he was trying to do, Mario found no sign of the princess in the castle, so he moved on.

'World 3' had no less sand than the Desertlands, but far more water and tropical-looking plants, as it was a beach. Mario managed to tear his eyes away from the perfectly clear water long enough to start stomping enemies again. Apparently someone from the desert had warned these troops, for they were tougher to beat than either of the worlds before them. Mario had a sinking feeling that he was going to have to stop and rest more often. 

Here he encountered what he dubbed a 'water stage', and these quickly grew to be his least favourite. He had to keep coming up for air, as well as swimming being the slowest and most tiring form of movement so far. Pipes took him in and out of the water stages, and the uncomfortable squishing feeling of going through those wasn't exactly pleasant either. Cheep Cheeps and other fish would swim at him with their sharp teeth, trying to bite at him but swimming on once they failed, and once there was even a massive fish twice his size trying to swallow him whole! Even outside of the water stages, there were fish leaping out of the water trying to bite him.

Overall, despite the lovely water, Mario was very glad to reach the castle at the end of the world. He was sick of fish. Fighting the fake Bowser was a welcome break and not too much harder than normal, and he reluctantly admitted to himself that it was a relief to see the piloting Buzzy Beetle be ejected from the Bowser suit.

The next 'world' had him longing to see proper water again. In its place, the Jungle had purple poison, which had been rumoured to kill with a single touch! Mario wondered if it was naturally occurring or had been developed by Bowser; he hoped it was the former. Fortunately, he managed to avoid it, whether by swinging on vines or riding on... dinosaur-looking things, he lived to fight another 'Bowser' (this time a Spiny). Which was basically the same as last time. How many of these guys were there, again?

The sun was starting to rise again. He'd been struggling to get through the water world all night long, so he figured he deserved a break. Fumbling in his pocket, he grabbed his phone, hesitated, and then dialled Luigi's number before he could change his mind.

The phone rang for a few seconds, then... "Hello? Mario?"

"Hey, Luigi."

"You've been ages! Is something wrong? Do you need me to come help you? Where are you? Everyone's been coming over and asking me where you are!" Luigi sounded terrified, and with a jolt Mario realised it had been almost an entire day since he'd left, with no communication to the town.

"No, nothing's wrong. Bowser's leading me on a wild goose chase, taking me through a ton of his different lands searching the castles for the princess. I'm on the fourth castle and I haven't found a thing."

"What does the place look like? I can tell you how far away you are from the Darklands, which is his main base, and probably where he's got the princess." A pause, and some heavy breathing. "I've got a map up, looks like there are eight different biomes in his kingdom from this border? Good Grambi his kingdom is huge!"

"Uh, well I'm in a jungle with loads of that purple poison around-"

"Jungle! That's the fourth biome, correct?"

"Yeah, but-" 

Luigi sounded out of breath. "Okay, so if you're past that castle you're halfway there! There's a mountain up ahead assuming you're travelling east, do you see it?"

Mario checked his phone compass and looked east. "Yeah, I see it, it's covered in snow!"

"That's where you need to go. Up to the snowy biome, then down the other side of the mountain is a rocky area without snow that you need to pass through, and then it leads you up to the Cloudlands. You'll be able to see the Darklands from there, so just head towards them and you'll be golden." Another pause. More heavy breathing. "You got that, bro?"

"Yeah, I got it. Tell anyone who asks what's going on, but don't tell them where I am. I almost died in that jungle multiple times, and I really don't need anyone rushing over to try to help and getting hurt."

"Alright." A third pause. "Good luck, bro. I think you might need it. Come home safe."

"I will. Bye." Mario hung up. Ran a mental check for droopy eyes which came back negative. And headed for the mountain.

It was a pain to climb, but at least there were no enemies on the way up. The stages only began when he reached the snowy biome. They'd gotten considerably harder now that he'd apparently passed the halfway point - the enemies seemed more desperate to get rid of him. It was hard to drag himself through the snow, but he managed by jumping often and using fireballs to melt it (the enemies seemed to have more trouble than he did).

Some enemies grabbed balls of snow out of their mouths and threw them at him. Some of them couldn't be defeated by stomping on them, so he had to either push them into pits or just dodge them. There were even Hammer Brothers tossing hammers and bouncing all over the place. When he reached the door of the castle he fell to the floor and screamed in frustration and relief. The castles were always filled with lava. No snow there. Nope. None.

Mario decided, after that 'Bowser' (a Lakitu was in the suit this time), that he was slightly tired, and should probably take a rest. Half of him was berating himself for resting, while the other half - what he decided to call the Luigi half - reasoned that it would be easier for him to beat the enemies if he was more well-rested.

He set an alarm for an hour, had a snooze, and was back up and moving as soon as his designated break was over. Down the other side of the mountain it was easy to slip and fall, so Mario had to watch his step. Once or twice he jumped onto a ledge, found it was slimmer than he'd thought, and had to cling on by the hands and pull himself up. The enemies were also ramped up in difficulty yet again. This confused Mario slightly; if he was trying to kill someone he'd send in his most difficult patterns and toughest troops first, not last. So why...?

Mario managed to put the debate about Bowser's motives behind him while fighting another fake Bowser (bizarrely, the Blooper flew out of the lava instead of being ejected) and proceeded to the Skylands without stopping.

He had no idea how it had been done, but he was able to actually walk on the clouds. In the distance, there seemed to be a legitimate dwelling on the clouds. On the clouds! He could hardly believe it.

He wasn't able to admire the magic, or technology, or whatever that made the clouds solid for long, as the stages started almost immediately. The enemies were tough, but Mario was tougher. The end of his journey was in sight. As desperate as they were to stop him, he was even more desperate to get to the end, save the princess and go back to normal. The Lakitus and their Spinies couldn't stop him, neither could the Hammer Bros. No one could stop him. Especially not the Hammer Brother disguised as Bowser at the end of the world. He was determined, and they would not stop him.

As he exited the seventh castle - again, with no sign of the princess - he caught his first glimpse of the Darklands, and his breath caught in his throat. There was only darkness beyond the mountain. The lands were ruined by the harsh temperatures. No plants grew, and no birds sang. Volcanoes that looked like pimples from this height spewed out lava, marring the land. 

In the distance, Mario could just make out the largest castle of them all. An airship was hovering outside it - an airship that looked like it had been in a crash, then been repaired as fast as humanly (Koopa-ly?) possible. No doubt, Princess Peach was there, and this was his final destination. He had no other options.

He ignored his Luigi half, which was screaming at him to take a rest after all that fighting, and leapt from the clouds into the darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so. So. So. SO. Sorry.
> 
> I don't want to seem like I'm making excuses. I know I said that the schedule might be messed up, but I didn't think it would be so bad. I'm starting A-level work now, and was cleaning my (extremely messy) room for ages. On top of that I also received Animal Crossing: New Horizons for my GCSE grades, which didn't help. Then my iPad got an error and I thought I'd lost all my work (fortunately I hadn't but I lost quite a bit of time trying to fix the error). And that's what happened. School's started now so I don't know how often I'll be able to update, but I'll try to stick to Mondays when possible. Again, really sorry. Hopefully this will not happen again, and if so not on such a scale.
> 
> Apologies aside: Mario pushing himself to the limit to save the princess! Woohoo! And Luigi makes another appearance (albeit remotely)! Woohoo! And next chapter we get to meet Bowser! Maybe not so woohoo. I shall hopefully see you again on Monday... Woohoo!


End file.
